Masks of Conquest
by Darkrealmist
Summary: Tsukasa has Subaru at his mercy. Now if only he could finish the job. [Ryusei no Rockman, claiming first fic for this pairing]


Masks of Conquest

Author's Note: This story contains boy/boy situations, so if you don't like that kind of stuff, don't read. Otherwise, enjoy the story and R&R.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Ryusei no Rockman series.

Pairing: Subaru x Tsukasa

Summary:

Futaba Tsukasa encounters Hoshikawa Subaru in battle, and while things don't go as planned, he begins to see the other differently from his usual perceptions.

…

Suffering, agony, obliteration…The three stages of anxiety and fear. Wherever he ventured, the plague would follow, an unmistakable chorus whose volume ousted the clatter of his own footsteps careening behind him. But nothing was real. It had to be a lie. His feet and the noises they made as they left the ground carried the taint of unreality. Even the air he exhaled with each breath bore the unbearable stench of another's artifice. Such was the new mortality the universe had chartered unto him from the highest peaks of the universe – power at the cost of servitude, salvation at the cost of humanity, and life where there surely would have been none at all.

"Remember," he had always been told, "the pain you felt at the moment everything went awry, when cinders did turn the sky black and morose, and when your eyes slid from their sockets, cauterized by intrepid heat. Your voice faded into a vacuum, frigid despite the raw fury that threatened to consume you. Did it worry you in the least that you would die, no trace of your existence to be found, or did you instead cry out for it? The sirens and screams of onlookers terrified you. You knew in that instant that you would perish. But I did not let that happen. Hope you didn't have…nor did you want it. It was paranoia. It made you more afraid still. Thus I offered you a choice: no hope. With no hope, there is a world united in its turmoil, its despair, its anarchy. Alone you can stand with your rage surging through the veins of millions of innocents in a thunderous uproar. Whereas man can fail, be caught, killed and forgotten, you are eternal. You are the striking of a match: that which sparks the incisive precise blow. Amongst the brothers and sisters that I do rule beside, you are second to king…but the king must be forever wary of that righteous flaw that so afflicts his associate. The symptoms bust 'round him, yet he is no sooner alerted to treason than he is to the whims of his consort. You are different. You prevail because the will to prevail is in you, and once it has been woven – knitted into that which you call a 'mind' – it cannot be excised. It becomes irremovable. Flesh is so easily broken – an unfortunate characteristic of your breed – but I can remedy that…I can remedy _everything_. You cannot move? I will help you up. You and I can sit up as one. Yes…Just as you need me, I too am in need of you. What do you say? It is imperative, however, that you make a promise to me. Nothing of difficulty, really…You and I are going to destroy this Earth, this useless and disgracing stain."

In either hand Gemini had placed his masks, one black and the other white, though both held the same visage – the same offer. Gathering what little remaining strength he could muster, he croaked "I promise" before passing out beneath four tons of flaming steel. The gasoline fires dissipated as Gemini neared to pry the masks from the dead boy's spread palms. The alien put a claw to his sweat-drenched forehead. Together, they retraced their path back to life.

Now it was time to make good on his promise. As Rockman lay smoldering but alive on the concrete, his assailant could only wonder if he too had looked so pathetic in his death throes those many years ago. Underneath the visor Rockman wore was a frightened child, Hoshikawa Subaru. He prided himself on knowing the hero's identity, and took due pleasure believing the boy would never suspect that it was his classmate Futaba Tsukasa who was about to give the final curtain call.

With a click of his wrist, lightning raced up his fingertips to form a crackling blade. Smirking, he and his partner crossed swords and exchanged last minute signs of approval. It was over. In a few seconds, Rockman would be vanquished…or so it may have been had a melodious tune not interrupted.

While his partner searched the surrounding area for the music's source, he faked interest by tracking his movements. Over his shoulder, his attention was trained on Subaru, who was visibly struggling to remain conscious. He was obviously exhausted, making pitiful attempts to crawl away. Why he even bothered to try was a mystery to Tsukasa.

"You don't have to do this," his conscience suggested.

At first he laughed inwardly at himself for coming up with such riffraff. Rockman was his sworn enemy, and sworn enemies were meant to be eliminated. Having barely anything in common with each other, it should have been a straightforward affair, but something just didn't feel right. He couldn't bring himself to kill one without the means to defend himself. It was bad enough that Rockman was outnumbered, but to strike while the boy was down was unforgivable.

Quiet sobs from below snapped him out of his thoughts. Was he crying?

Curious, he made certain that his twin was still preoccupied, and then delivered a light kick to Subaru's face – not hard enough to break his nose, but with enough force to shatter his visor on impact. Tsukasa wasn't intending to blemish his recently-discovered moral code – he was merely fascinated with those tear-strained eyes accompanied by the sounds of sharp oxygen intake. Subaru was scared, and it was this fear in his eyes which had for so long proved foreign to Tsukasa that made them attractive.

He shook off discomfort, paling at the idea of regarding Subaru as attractive. It was just his eyes and nothing more, he assured himself. Then again, he was awfully close…Within range of an unnoticeable peck to the cheek.

"Don't do it. You'll regret it," his conscience interposed, though it was not against brutality towards his foe this time.

He averted his gaze, answering deliberately: "I can't."

"Over there. It's Harp Note."

"Harp Note, huh?" Tsukasa spotted a blonde girl who was singing atop a radio transmitter tower. She was strumming away at her guitar, and it became evident with her increased playing speed that she wanted in on the battle.

Hitting her last note, she leapt off her perch and sent a flurry of silvery lines at Rockman's adversaries. "Machine Gun String!"

The Gemini twins vanished, rematerializing in front of her once her wire assault completed its rebound.

"Don't call me an idol anymore. I'm a fighting artist!"

Her instrument seemed to agree with her, adding: "Awesome, hyu, hyu!"

"If you get in the way, we'll kill you as well!" Tsukasa warned.

"You sure you can do that?"

Finally on his knees, Subaru took the opportunity to fight back while his attackers were distracted. Breaking into an awkward run, he drew a sword and slashed them across their chests.

The reaction of the wilder doppelganger was one of explosive disbelief. Tsukasa, on the other hand, was impressed. Subaru had good looks and could be cunning if the situation called for it. The more Tsukasa distanced himself from the boy, the more he came to like about him.

"Amazing, isn't it? Getting us both at the same time…"

The three combatants disappeared, leaving a weak Rockman to collapse under the light of the full moon.

…

Subaru was in the school planetarium when Tsukasa approached from the rear. For someone who had nearly been beaten to death the night prior, it was quite peculiar that he still had sufficient energy to attend class, let alone steal away to research planets and spiral galaxies in solitude.

"Holed up in here as usual?"

Subaru whirled around with the alarm of a baby boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Oh, Tsukasa-kun. It's you."

"I thought we could walk home together."

"Sorry…but I'll be a while longer. You go on without me."

"No prob," he started. "You dream of taking after you father, correct? To become an astronaut?"

"How did you –?"

"You're the one who told me, remember?"

Subaru rubbed the back of his head in realization. "That's right…"

"Do your best. I'll be rooting for you."

"Thank you."

"See you later then." Tsukasa turned, sneering darkly behind his earphones.

There was a face beneath the mask, but it was not him. He was no more that face than the muscles beneath it, or the bones beneath them. He didn't need a meaningless choice…He needed hope. With Subaru's guidance, perhaps he could one day shed falsity to look upon his beloved with true conviction.

…

-Owari-


End file.
